Our Parish Priest
Rev Fr. Patrick Anthony Smythe
Fr Pat was born in Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex on 20th March 1943, the younger of two brothers. The family moved to Sheffield in 1947 and Fr Pat was educated by the Sisters of Mercy at Mylnhurst Convent Junior School and at De La Salle Grammar School before going to Ushaw College, Durham to study for the Priesthood. He was ordained by Bishop Gordon Wheeler for the Diocese of Leeds in his home parish of St William of York, Sheffield on 23rd May 1967.
Fr Pat was appointed as Assistant Priest to St Bernard’s Parish, Halifax and to the Chaplaincy of St Thomas More Secondary Modern School (which subsequently became the Halifax Catholic High School and is now called St Catherine’s). In 1970 he was transferred to St Mary’s Parish in Halifax where he was engaged in the establishment of a Deanery Catholic Youth Centre and continued as Chaplain to the High School.
In 1978 Fr Pat was appointed Leeds Diocesan Youth Director and also Chaplain to St Wilfrid’s Catholic High School, Featherstone. The Diocesan Youth Ministry involved him in the establishment of the Diocesan Residential Youth Centre at St Monica’s, Skipton where he led the Youth Retreats team between 1981-86 and acted as Chaplain to Holy Family Catholic High School in Keighley.
Bishop David Konstant appointed Fr Pat as Parish Priest to St Paulinus, Dewsbury in September 1986 where he celebrated his Silver Jubilee and served until September 1993 before moving to St Boniface, High Bentham. While ministering to this parish in the Yorkshire Dales Fr Pat undertook a Master’s Degree in Theology at Leeds University. During this time he became engaged in the international campaign for the liberation of East Timor making several visits to the territory both before and after the eventual achievement of Independence. He continued at the Department of Religious Studies at Leeds University until 2001 when he was awarded a Doctorate for his thesis on the role of the Catholic Church in the issue of East Timor. By this time he had been reappointed as Parish Priest to the community of St Mary’s, Rothwell where he served from September 1998 until August 2006 when Bishop Arthur Roche appointed him to Holy Name – in good time for the celebration of his Ruby Jubilee in May 2007!
On August 15th 2010 Fr Pat was entrusted with the pastoral care of the newly formed Parish of Our Lady of Kirkstall, comprising the former parishes of The Assumption of Our Lady (Spen Lane), Our Lady of Good Counsel (St Mary’s) Horsforth, and The Holy Name of Jesus (Cookridge). Fr Boniface Akpoigbe MSP was appointed as Assistant Priest in this ministry
Fr Boniface and the Missionaries of St Paul
Assisting Fr Pat, our Parish Priest, is Fr Boniface Kesiena Akpoigbe who is a Missionary of St Paul and whose home is in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Fr Boniface was ordained in October 2002 and has been in England for one year, at the Cathedral of St Anne, moving to live in the presbytery at the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus on September 6th. He will share in the general pastoral work of the three churches comprising the Parish of Our Lady of Kirkstall, including that of the three Primary Schools within its borders: Holy Name (Cookridge), St Mary’s (Horsforth), and the Sacred Heart (Kirkstall) - at which he will undertake the Chaplaincy.
The Missionaries of St Paul is a Society founded in Nigeria in 1977 by the national Bishops’ Conference in response to an appeal made by Pope Paul VI for the Church in Africa to play its proper part in the missionary endeavour of the Universal Church. The first MSP priest was ordained in Abuja (the new Capital of Nigeria) in June 1985 and the society now has 207 priests (currently two in the Diocese of Leeds) and two bishops. After their ordination MSP priests work for a year in Nigeria before they are posted to outside missions. Fr Boniface was in South Africa before being transferred to the Diocese of Leeds in October 2009.
Bird Man?
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